BambooHR vs. BQE CORE

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BambooHR
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
BambooHR is an on-line human resources solution that provides onboarding, payroll, and benefits management. It also offers automated time-off management and employee self-service.
$250
per month
BQE CORE
Score 8.5 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
BQE CORE is a business management solution built specifically for professional service firms. BQE CORE is a combination of a billing assistant, project management, and accounting solution. CORE is designed to do the hard work of delivering actionable insights directly to the user's dashboards or inbox. BQE CORE replaces the products Engineeroffice, Archioffice, and BillQuick; the functionality of these applications is now found in BQE CORE.N/A
Pricing
BambooHRBQE CORE
Editions & Modules
Core
$250
per month
Pro
$250
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BambooHRBQE CORE
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsNo matter what HR looks like at your company, we have the perfect plan for you!
More Pricing Information
Features
BambooHRBQE CORE
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.1
134 Ratings
3% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data7.7113 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history8.7121 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.4119 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.8.2106 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting7.3118 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management8.1108 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)8.664 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.0
86 Ratings
0% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Pay calculation8.259 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.249 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.036 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.865 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.564 Ratings00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.068 Ratings00 Ratings
Reimbursement management6.735 Ratings00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.9
115 Ratings
10% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Approval workflow9.2113 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details8.9105 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.494 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.6
128 Ratings
6% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information8.280 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information9.0127 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.7106 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition8.484 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history8.7119 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.7
51 Ratings
1% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets7.751 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.7
103 Ratings
1% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Report builder8.198 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.797 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data7.470 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.6
106 Ratings
7% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
New hire portal8.7101 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools8.693 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.2
65 Ratings
0% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting8.249 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting8.263 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility8.248 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking8.159 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.8
71 Ratings
2% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Performance plans7.563 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans7.856 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking7.965 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders8.166 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.862 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.1
53 Ratings
11% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Create succession plans/pools5.734 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking7.743 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search7.146 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate development7.940 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.1
87 Ratings
3% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Job Requisition Management8.063 Ratings00 Ratings
Company Website Posting8.369 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to Social Media8.261 Ratings00 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting8.265 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention7.459 Ratings00 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.277 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.680 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
-
Ratings
BQE CORE
8.1
57 Ratings
8% above category average
Task Management00 Ratings8.739 Ratings
Resource Management00 Ratings9.340 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings6.716 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings8.226 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings7.627 Ratings
Team Collaboration00 Ratings8.033 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology00 Ratings8.613 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology00 Ratings8.312 Ratings
Document Management00 Ratings7.230 Ratings
Email integration00 Ratings7.226 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings8.533 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking00 Ratings9.457 Ratings
Change request and Case Management00 Ratings8.322 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management00 Ratings7.744 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
-
Ratings
BQE CORE
8.6
40 Ratings
15% above category average
Quotes/estimates00 Ratings7.722 Ratings
Invoicing00 Ratings9.035 Ratings
Project & financial reporting00 Ratings8.939 Ratings
Integration with accounting software00 Ratings8.725 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BambooHRBQE CORE
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.1 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.6 out of 10
SAP Ruum
SAP Ruum
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.2 out of 10
Quickbase
Quickbase
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BambooHRBQE CORE
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(138 ratings)
8.6
(150 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(12 ratings)
7.1
(8 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(65 ratings)
8.1
(100 ratings)
Availability
9.3
(5 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Performance
8.7
(5 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(59 ratings)
7.9
(90 ratings)
Online Training
9.2
(4 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(5 ratings)
2.8
(6 ratings)
Configurability
8.6
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.3
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.6
(2 ratings)
4.5
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.9
(5 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
9.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(4 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(4 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
BambooHRBQE CORE
Likelihood to Recommend
BambooHR
I think it is well suited for organizations that are doing large-scale hiring and have large teams to keep track of. It might be less necessary for smaller teams. However, I think most orgs can benefit from Bamboo HR because it makes staying organized accessible.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
BQE CORE is well suited for a firm trying to get a better understanding of their project performance as a whole as well as better manage time and project resources. It is not the greatest for client management through a project or through invoicing, but it is do-able within the system.
Read full review
Pros
BambooHR
  • The Applicant Tracking System is pretty good. Has a couple flaws but over all it's a really great module.
  • The HR management system works really well and we love how much we can customize things we need.
  • The Reporting feature is one of my favorite things about BambooHR. I can create any report I want and I love that.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
  • Invoice Collections within Billing is a great tool because of the ability to take notes and track contact.
  • Invoices are professional looking and easy for our clients to understand the overall progress within each phase of their project.
  • Dashboards are the best tool EVER!
  • The Contact List feature within Clients setup is the perfect way to track multiple project managers within a large company that also has multiple contracts with us.
Read full review
Cons
BambooHR
  • The performance feature is a little clunky and not adjustable, so I would love to have more customizable options.
  • When a candidate signs an offer letter, it would be great if it could show up under the documents tab. Right now, it gets a little buried.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
  • Customizable Reporting
  • Linking Project to Payment all together
  • Assigning contacts to particular roles - such as Invoicing, Contracts, etc.
  • Accounting Functionality - they are basically a project management accounting software, so in my opinion, they could learn some things from other accounting software such as QuickBooks etc.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
BambooHR
There's nothing wrong with this platform. I would recommend it to any business starting with more than 10 employees. I will continue to use the program for as long as I need to, hoping they continue being tremendous and finding other ways to incorporate more technology.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
We have been using Core for a few years now, and honestly started to look at other software systems to see what was out there. What we chose was a nightmare for migration so we never left Core. Now we have added invoicing and payments from Core instead of double entry with QBO. Still only a few cycles in but looks like it will be up to speed soon and working smoothly.
Read full review
Usability
BambooHR
Overall, the system is quite easy to navigate and use. This was a major reason we went with BambooHR over others. Our C-suite wanted to be sure that they could see every person at our company using the majority of the system without too much assistance. BambooHR does this quite well, and they seem to strongly emphasize it whenever I meet with a product manager.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
The foundation is awesome, like I have said before, however the house being built on it, the educational resources being provided to us (more of sales pitches that don't work), and flexible workflow opportunities, is making us look elsewhere for how much we will be spending on per user. It's crazy to think how flexible they are not when it comes to user settings. Lack of integration with other sources is awful.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
BambooHR
Yes, there is a huge team in the back of the online platform or it looks like it because I have never been left without an answer when I have a question or waiting from a response on my chat .... There must be a huge team, this is so great and I always seem to have someone that is very knowledgeable too. So many times in the past I had to leave with customer service that would connect you with someone else because of the expertise, here everyone seems to be some kind of an expert in the HR function.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
I can only remember a couple of times in 4 years that Core has been unavailable.
Read full review
Performance
BambooHR
I love BambooHR. Reports are easy to run and download and it usually covers any types of requests I get from the management team. You get excel or .csv downloads/reports and it is fast and simple, not too crowded so it is easy to read through. We don't integrate the tool yet but again, soon we will. we just did not had the time to utilize it yet but that's the plan.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
This is one area that does need some improvement. It can be slow at time, so we had our IT look at it from our side and we had no issues, so it has to be some slowness on their side.
Read full review
Support Rating
BambooHR
When I started using BambooHR as a main manager 4 months ago, it had a good thing with that chat that responded very quickly and helped to fix easy and quick issues. Sadly, it stopped working and now we need to send an email every time we want to solve a problem, even when it is a small one, and it takes almost a day (sometimes more) to give a proper answer.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
As a new employee and CORE user, I talk to support on a weekly basis. I have never had to wait for more than 3 min to get connect with a support rep, and all my questions have been answered. The support representatives are polite and eager to help no matter how simple your question is.
Read full review
In-Person Training
BambooHR
I didn't have in-person training besides teaching my managers how to use the program. However, I couldn't omit this question (maybe a system glitch).
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
No answers on this topic
Online Training
BambooHR
As far as I can recall, everything went well with doing it online and got questions answered. Was thankful to work with a dummy file to get used to some practices prior to getting our own domain within bamboo to then place our personnel information in the system, this helped a lot!
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
Make sure you have someone training you that fits your style of learning.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
BambooHR
We implemented bambooHR in Fall, 2023 then implemented Payroll 1/1/24. A vital piece of information was not known or missed in that we are exempt from State Unemployment Tax and have a Reimbursement Set-up, so bambooHR did not send Payroll Reports to the State. Those reports need to be sent regardless if we are exempt or not.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
It does take some time to understand the options and to find the best invoice template.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
BambooHR
BambooHR was already in place when I started. BambooHR has much better intuitive navigation than any of the other systems but not as much customizability as something like Workday
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
Deltek Vision is far more advanced, more encompassing and offers more flexibility with what you want to do. However, it's also quite difficult to use, whereas BQE CORE is intuitive and user friendly. The trade off is worth it in some arenas but overall it's not suited for a larger fast paced company. Great for smaller companies.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
BambooHR
Since my organization has dropped with employees, I always find ways to reduce costs. I thought there would be a cheaper option, but I was glad that my package included a lot for the price, and downgrading would cost more. The rep could have let me downgraded and taken me to a higher package. I am thankful that didn't happen.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
No answers on this topic
Scalability
BambooHR
There is so much you can do with this platform, it is incredible and so welcoming. We don't utilize it 100% yet just because we are growing and the HR team has not been able to concentrate on other areas offered to us but but we will soon. Which is also why we got the product, specifically because what BambooHR can do to help us meet our growing business needs.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
This software works on a small and large scale.
Read full review
Professional Services
BambooHR
VERY professional!
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
BambooHR
  • Self Service is great to free up time for Admin.
  • Self-Service/ Tracked PTO and sick days are easy to use and track very well. This frees up Admin time and is transparent for all employees.
  • Easy to use Job postings with very trackable sourcing reports.
  • Easy to use. Easy to onboard and user friendly interface. Requires minimal training.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
  • Quick setup of new tasks under a parent project, with immediate hourly billing to it.
  • Monitoring of details of non-chargeable efforts in appropriate detail
  • Validation of hourly cost, billing cost, benefit cost, profitability by person and role
  • Company tracking of write-off's included in corporate and project reporting, no data is "lost"
  • Can track excessive work time as +PTO in lieu of pay for use as future vacation
Read full review
ScreenShots

BambooHR Screenshots

Screenshot of BambooHR's Reporting

BQE CORE Screenshots

Screenshot of Core powered by BQE SoftwareScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Dashboard ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE 360* Firm Performance ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE Reporting & AnalyticsScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Time EntryScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Expense Tracking